Donuts from Johnny's Trading Spot, Part VI

Several weeks ago, I read a post at Johnny's Trading Spot titled Instant mini collections up for grabs. "Up for Grabs" always gets my attention, so I threw my name into the mix. They were supposed to be randomly assigned, but through a lucky draw and one trade, each of the winners wound up with exactly what they originally wanted most. For me, that was cards with batting donuts.

Part I II III IV V

Last one!

1977 Topps #126 Rod Gilbreath
1979 Topps #165 Frank Taveras
1981 Fleer #545 Keith Hernandez
1981 Topps
#319 Rowland Office
#445 Ellis Valentine
#465 Bill Russell
#558 Barry Bonnell
#723 Bruce Bochte
1982 Fleer #209 Chris Speier

These cards were all "First Row" cards in my collection. I keep my cards stored in bpxes with 3 rows each, sorted by year and set. I always take notice when I acquire a card that is old enough to go in the first row. Right now that's anything 1984 or earlier, though 1984 Topps is getting close to being pushed into row 2. So, in total I've got 12 first row cards here.

1984 Donruss #285 Greg Gross
1984 Fleer #20 John Shelby
1984 Fleer #299 Tim Flannery
1985 Topps #496 Donnie Scott
1985 Topps #647 Rafael Ramirez
1986 Donruss #401 Terry Francona
1986 Fleer #270 Rich Dauer
1986 Fleer #278 Fred Lynn

Thanks again to Johnny's Trading Spot for the kickstart to my batting donut collection.

Donuts from Johnny's Trading Spot, Part V

Several weeks ago, I read a post at Johnny's Trading Spot titled Instant mini collections up for grabs. "Up for Grabs" always gets my attention, so I threw my name into the mix. They were supposed to be randomly assigned, but through a lucky draw and one trade, each of the winners wound up with exactly what they originally wanted most. For me, that was cards with batting donuts.

Part I II III IV

Sunday's a good Donut Day, too.

1986 Topps
#25 Willie Wilson
#62 Bob Boone
#128 John Wathan
#271 Dave Collins
#407 Sal Butera
#740 Lance Parrish

With just a bit more cropping, Lance Parrish's card would never have been in this donut collection.

1988 Fleer League Leaders #8 Eric Davis
1988 Topps
#67 Ken Oberkfell
#466 Jerry Mumphrey
1989 Topps
#19 Greg Gagne
#53 Ruben Sierra
#356 Kevin Elster
#553 Luis Salazar
#577 Randy Bush

1989 Upper Deck
#53 Steve Sax
#329 Danny Tartabull
#485 Brian Downing
#522 Juan Castillo
#527 Donnie Hill
#750 Ray Quinones

1989 Upper Deck feels like one of those historic sets that I should complete. These will put me a little closer, but I still only have about 30 unique cards from the set.

Donuts from Johnny's Trading Spot, Part IV

Several weeks ago, I read a post at Johnny's Trading Spot titled Instant mini collections up for grabs. "Up for Grabs" always gets my attention, so I threw my name into the mix. They were supposed to be randomly assigned, but through a lucky draw and one trade, each of the winners wound up with exactly what they originally wanted most. For me, that was cards with batting donuts.

Part I II III

Shouldn't Friday always be Donut Day?

1990 Fleer
#292 Steve Buechele
#301 Pete Incaviglia
#559 Von Hayes
#560 Tom Herr
1990 Topps
#143 Rafael Belliard
#325 Robby Thompson
1990 Topps Traded
#65T Candy Maldonado
#85T Junior Ortiz

I've never heard whether there's any sort of interesting story behind it, but for some reason 1990's Tom Herr was 1987's Tommy Herr.

1987 Donruss
#140 Tommy Herr
#169 Keith Moreland
#183 Terry Pendleton
#485 Bob Brenly
#622 Dave Henderson
1989 Donruss
#309 Rafael Santana
#346 Mickey Hatcher
#355 Gene Larkin
#484 Wallace Johnson

It still fills me with cognitive dissonance that Terry Pendleton was a Cardinal longer than a member of the Atlanta Braves. I started watching baseball in 1992, so I never saw him play for us firsthand, and I didn't find out that he did until years later.

1990 Upper Deck
#86 Neal Heaton
#148 Ernie Whitt
#232 Ron Gant
#240 John Moses
#289 Eddie Williams
#298 Mike Scioscia
#306 Mike Heath
#419 Tim Laudner

1990 Upper Deck was clearly big on the donut photo on the back of the card, favoring action shots for the most part on the front.

1990 Bowman #332 Jerry Browne
1989 Fleer #219 R.J. Reynolds
1989 Fleer #573 Steve Jeltz
1990 Donruss #456 Glenn Braggs
1990 Donruss #798 Chris James
1991 Leaf #36 Spike Owen.

Donuts from Johnny's Trading Spot, Part III

Several weeks ago, I read a post at Johnny's Trading Spot titled Instant mini collections up for grabs. "Up for Grabs" always gets my attention, so I threw my name into the mix. They were supposed to be randomly assigned, but through a lucky draw and one trade, each of the winners wound up with exactly what they originally wanted most. For me, that was cards with batting donuts.

Part I II

It's a busy week for me. So, let's just see some more donuts, featuring 3 Cardinals this time, though all in other uniforms.

1991 Topps
#139 Jeff Treadway
#604 Billy Hatcher
#726 Phil Stephenson
#781 Darryl Hamilton
1991 Fleer #75 Joe Oliver
1991 Upper Deck
#3 D. J. Dozier
#291 Joey Cora
#340 Larry Sheets
#502 Bob Boone

Bob Boone doesn't look nearly old enough on this 1991 card to be the father of Bret Boone, on the 1992 card below.

1991 Upper Deck
#560 Chris Gwynn
#675 Hensley Meulens
#754 Tony Fernandez
1992 Upper Deck
#121 Hal Morris
#327 Kevin Seitzer
#771 Bret Boone
#737 Dan Gladden
1992 Topps
#333 Pat Tabler
#647 Marquis Grissom

1991 Donruss
#80 Kevin Reimer
#109 Ken Oberkfell
#253 Glenn Braggs
#255 Kevin Mitchell
#445 Kirk Gibson
#530 John Olerud
1992 Donruss #759 Dave Anderson
1992 Triple Play #24 Reggie Jefferson
1992 Fleer Ultra #279 Thomas Howard

Ken Oberkfell and Thomas Howard are the two Cardinals in this bunch, along with Royce Clayton below. The Howard card has a sneaky donut on it, on the bat of the player on deck.

1992 Leaf #272 Royce Clayton

Donuts from Johnny's Trading Spot, Part II

Several weeks ago, I read a post at Johnny's Trading Spot titled Instant mini collections up for grabs. "Up for Grabs" always gets my attention, so I threw my name into the mix. They were supposed to be randomly assigned, but through a lucky draw and one trade, each of the winners wound up with exactly what they originally wanted most. For me, that was cards with batting donuts.

Part I

I don't have much time to write much today, so just enjoy these donuts, along with an inordinately large number of Dan Walters cards.

1994 Score
#478 Jeff Gardner
#556 Darrell Whitmore
1998 Score Rookie/Traded #RT165 Matt Williams
1995 Collector's Choice Special Edition
#31 Chili Davis
#77 Ray Lankford
#111 Robby Thompson

1993 Topps
#85 Sandy Alomar
#273 Dan Walters
#318 Willie Wilson
#324 Willie Randolph
#326 Gary Varsho
1993 Topps - Gold
#85 Sandy Alomar
#318 Willie Wilson
1993 Stadium Club #175 Dan Walters
1993 Upper Deck #632 Chris Gwynn

1994 Score #60 Lenny Dykstra
1995 Stadium Club Members Only #46 Manny Ramirez
1993 Upper Deck #172 Dan Walters
1995 Studio - Gold Series #44 Lenny Dykstra

Donuts from Johnny's Trading Spot

Several weeks ago, I read a post at Johnny's Trading Spot titled Instant mini collections up for grabs. "Up for Grabs" always gets my attention, so I threw my name into the mix. They were supposed to be randomly assigned, but through a lucky draw and one trade, each of the winners wound up with exactly what they originally wanted most. For me, that was cards with batting donuts.

In a lot of the photos, I wouldn't have even noticed the donut right away. Luckily the ones featuring a donut only on the back side were flipped appropriately when they arrived.

1998 Fleer Tradition #169 Ray Lankford
1998 Fleer Tradition #234 Bobby Higginson
1998 Fleer Ultra #267 FP Santangelo
1999 Skybox Thunder - Rant #191 Bobby Higginson
1999 Skybox Metal Universe #87 Bobby Higginson
2000 Upper Deck Victory #122 Todd Hollandsworth
2003 Topps #175 Terrence Long
2006 Upper Deck #192 Jeff Conine
2009 Topps #331 Luke Scott

1996 Fleer Ultra #463 Hal Morris
1997 Donruss #29 Rondell White

I've got more to scan and post. I like to sort things logically, so I split them up by year. These are the latest cards from the package, and I've got about another 20 years backwards to cover.

eBay Wins #159

Today I've got one card from Score's "Premium" offering for 1993, Score Select. There's nothing really premium about these cards except the name, and the lack of white borders like most cards of the era. It seems like they were going for a Stadium Club feel, with the full bleed photos, but didn't want to appear to be a complete knockoff, necessitating the green border.

1993 Select #218 Tony Phillips

Tony Phillips played his last year and his first 8 years in Oakland. In between those stints, he played for 5 other teams over 9 seasons, including 5 with Detroit. He also played every position but Pitcher and Catcher over his 18 seasons.

This is only my third base card from this set, which has a very non-round total of 405 cards.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3260
Total Spent	$51.10
Per Card	1.567 cents
Change	-0.001 cents

eBay Wins #158

Today's eBay lot is 1993 Leaf, including one short-time Cardinal, Will Clark. He's still a Cardinal to me, but I feel like I'm trying to steal his Giants and Rangers legacy on behalf of my hometown team if I don't write in the "short-time" qualifier

1993 Leaf
#436 Cory Snyder
#247 Will Clark
#205 Juan Bell

I thought I was going to have some neat connection with all 3 cards here. Cory Snyder and Will Clark were both on the Giants in 1992, and Will Clark and Juan Bell both played for the Orioles. But, Juan started with the Orioles, from 1989-91, while Will wouldn't get to Baltimore until 1999. Going back to Cory Snyder being on the Giants in 1992, how'd we get a seemingly genuine photo of him in a Dodgers uniform? Leaf had 2 series - 3 if you count the update series. Series 1 and 2 were 220 cards each, so they must have got some updated pictures by the time this Series 2 card was issued.

These 3 cards bring me up to a mere 16 base cards owned from 1993 Leaf.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3259
Total Spent	$51.09
Per Card	1.568 cents
Change	0 cents

Mail Day

It's Sunday; clearly no mail arrived at my home today. But, it is the day I went through my pile of mail I've been ignoring. Ipso facto: Mail Day.

2013 Topps Update
Making Their Mark Autographs #MMA-AH Aaron Hicks

I'm rather proud of myself I only procrastinated about 6 months in sending in my redemption for this card, which I pulled from a Jumbo box last August. I had a whole 18 months left to wait around. As I said before, this was my first redemption in about 20 years. I liked being able to do it online, though I kind of forgot about it, and this package arrived as a complete surprise. I didn't check the status online and get to go through the agony of waiting for shipping.

eBay Wins #157

This penny card only brings me up to 22 unique base cards from 1993 Fleer Ultra, but I've got most of the Cardinals and A's due to a group break a few years ago.

1993 Fleer Ultra #216 Steve Shifflett

Steve Shifflett only played in 1992, yet made it into most major releases of 1993. I figured that was because of the larger sets back then, but Fleer Ultra only had 650 that year. He finished 15 games, but recorded no saves, which has to be some kind of record.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3256
Total Spent	$51.06
Per Card	1.568 cents
Change	0 cents

Baseball Card Breakdown Contest

How would you like to win some of these?

And maybe just as exciting, some of these?

Custom Simpsons Magnets

It's a long involved explanation involving following him on YouTube, Twitter, and/or Facebook, so just go check out the contest at Baseball Card Breakdown.

2007 Topps Series 2

Here's another pack from a repack box. To think this pack is nearly 8 years old really makes me feel like time is flying

2007 Topps
#333 Mark Kotsay
#446 Jaret Wright
#568 Carlos Guillen
#641 Hideki Okajima
Checklist 3 of 3
Generation Now #GN343 Hanley Ramirez
Mickey Mantle Home Run History #MHR329

No Cardinals in this pack, but I did get one more than the promised 6 cards. I suppose the checklist is the bonus. That Mantle card is going to be a challenge for me to sort, since I like to go by year. I just learned today that those cards spanned multiple series from 2006-2008

eBay Wins #156

I haven't posted much 1993 Donruss on my blog, except for an Ozzie Smith I got in a prize package, and an Andy Van Slyke Diamond King from a trade. This penny card puts me up to 94 out of the 792 base cards.

1993 Donruss #223 Mike Greenwell

Mike Greenwell is one of those players that crusty old sportswriters lament is all too rare these days, the guy who spent a whole career with one team. I supposed there are plenty of those among the 1- or 2-season guys, but he actually played over 1200 games during 12 seasons in Boston.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3255
Total Spent	$51.05
Per Card	1.568 cents
Change	-0.001 cents

A Pack Stash Kind of Day

Every now and then I'll buy a box with some old packs, or get a bonus with an online order. Often those will just go into a big pile of "I'll open those when I feel like it". I believe this rack pack of 2010 Topps Series 2 is the former, from a box of 10 packs, though I can't really be sure once something's in the pile.

As I usually do, let's start with some base cards and move on to the inserts.

2010 Topps
#349 Felix Pie
#356 Angels Franchise History
#376 Esmil Rogers
#385 Torii Hunter
#398 Carlos Gonzalez
#405 Dustin McGowan
#416 Ruben Tejada
#431 John Raynor

Is that a cardboard cutout of Esmil Rogers standing in the bullpen? The photo makes him look very flat.

2010 Topps
#435 Nelson Cruz
#445 Miguel Olivo
#475 Johnny Damon
#491 Rafael Furcal
#501 Jake Peavy
#513 Scott Sizemore
#516 Marlon Byrd
#531 Matt Cain

The first Cardinal appears, Rafael Furcal. So far it doesn't appear anyone has picked up the 37-year-old shortstop for 2015 yet.

2010 Topps
#560 Ryan Rowland-Smith
#562 Carlos Quentin
#573 Johan Santana
#591 Fernando Rodney
#597 J.R. Towles
#615 Justin Verlander
#622 Indians Franchise History
#624 Carlos Beltran

Another Cardinal showed up, Carlos Beltran. Like Furcal, he is also 37, but he'll be playing for the Yankees this year, at least until/unless they decide to dump some salary.

2010 Topps
#655 Ryan Madson
Cards Your Mom Threw Out #CMT85 Eddie Murray
Copper Parallel #590 Ryan Howard #140/399
Peak Performance #PP-61 Hunter Pence
Topps Attax - Lance Berkman
Turkey Red #TR96 Magglio Ordonez

This Lance Berkman Attax code card is just a little expired, but feel free to try to use that code. It wasn't until the second time I flipped through these cards that I noticed that Ryan Howard card wasn't the #/2010 Gold Parallel, but a #/399 Copper Parallel. I might need some better lighting around my desk. I'm also a big fan of the Turkey Red insert set, and this Magglio Ordonez gives me one more card toward completing that.

2010 Topps
#400 Alex Rodriguez
#410 Oakland Athletics
#411 Jack Wilson
#642 Padres Franchise History
#656 Jon Lester
Million Card Giveaway #TMC-20 Carl Yastrzemski

For ease of scanning, here are all the horizontal cards in one shot. I'll bet A-Rod doesn't get one of Topps' "star numbers" like 400 this year, but maybe a good 2015 will earn one for him in 2016. At the end there's yet another expired code card, this time from the Million Card Giveaway, which was lots of fun in 2010. I did a decent job of trading in that promotion, turning large numbers of more common cards into vintage cards and Cardinals I collect.

eBay Wins #155

Today I've got one single card from 1993 Fleer, purchased for a penny on eBay. This one was actually part of a larger lot, but I like to split them up by set.

1993 Fleer #154 Will Clark

Players who get traded to the Cardinals for a partial season in the twilight of their careers just give me one more player to collect, since I like to have any card of a player who ever played for the Cardinals. With Will Clark being a 6-time all star, he has many cards to chase down through the years, especially the junk wax years. But, I think the only one I have picturing him as a Cardinal is from the Tis the Season box, which I posted just a few days ago. That's based on a cursory Zistle search of "Cards I Have" for "Will Clark" and "Cardinals". I get a lot of Jack Clark and Mark Clark, but only one of Will. He finished his career rather strongly in St. Louis - a 1.081 OPS in 51 games according to Baseball Reference -  but still opted to retire at the end of the 2000 season.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3254
Total Spent	$51.04
Per Card	1.569 cents
Change	0 cents

Tis The Season Winnings, Part XIII

Sometimes, I procrastinate posting and sorting some cards. Normally I don't pay too much attention to how long a particular item has been sitting on my desk, but given that this one was the Tis the Season contest from 2013, I've probably had it in my possession for a little over a year now. But, even with the long delay, I still want to throw Jeff at 2 by 3 Heroes some referral traffic while I show off my prize.
Part I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII

It rolled all the way into March thanks to some days I was too busy to post, but I've finally reached the end of this prize package, after 13 posts. Today is the remainder of the box, and it's all 2011 Allen and Ginter.

2011 Allen and Ginter
Baseball Highlight Sketches #BHS-23 Mark Teixeira
Floating Fortresses #FF1 HMS Victory Hometown Heroes #HH22 John Danks
Hometown Heroes #HH49 Danny Valencia
Hometown Heroes #HH66 Derek Lowe
Hometown Heroes #HH75 Carl Crawford
Hometown Heroes #HH79 Derek Jeter
Hometown Heroes #HH92 Mike Napoli

My sampling here includes two guys from Florida, two from Texas, and two from Michigan. Coincidence? Probably!

2011 Allen and Ginter
Ascent of Man #AOM 13 Eutherians
Ascent of Man #AOM 19 Hominini
Ascent of Man #AOM 20 Hominina
#295 Chris Carpenter

Here we see the Ascent of man. It's missing a few steps as you can see from the numbering, but I like the smooth transitions from one card to the next, as you can see between card 19 and 20. Later in the chain we have Chris Carpenter, clearly confused and angered by the world around him. To complete the chain, there should probably be a Nuke Laloosh, Rick Vaughn, and finally Chet Steadman.



There were about 60 more base cards, but none were Cardinals, and I got tired of scanning, so I'll go out on top with that gag.